


Metanoia

by CindyTran147



Category: Original Work
Genre: Childhood Friends, F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fictional Realms, Gen, Magic, Magic-Users, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Multi-Era, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle inspired
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2020-12-24 20:54:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21105851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CindyTran147/pseuds/CindyTran147
Summary: Transported back in time to collect an impossible (or is it) ingredient, Ryota learns a few new things about his companion. (Forgive the author for her terrible summarizing skill)





	1. Encounter

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, this is my first time posting on AO3. This work takes some inspirations from Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle. It's more of a personal project to me, to get ideas out of my head :) I hope you like it. English is not my first language and I edited the whole thing so there will be mistakes. Feedbacks are obviously welcomed. I will try my best to improve everyday. Thank you for reading !

He watched as the mighty beast started to land, leading a team of other beasts not so much lack in bearing and intimidation than it. The royal escort of Magiea Kindgom finally arrived at the palace of Nihon Country. The landing sent rumbles to the ground while the wide span of wings blowing strong winds sweeping through every trees, startling each of the horses, dogs and human present in the yard in front of the palace. All of that didn’t affect him though. He was there only thanks to Arin's power of transporting the soul back in time. He needed to figure out how exactly he could bring something here to the future of the people in front of him. It unsettled him to be in this state. Servants ran straight though him, sending strange sensation to his gut. He wondered if this was what a ghost felt like even when he didn’t believe in such concept. 

The King of Magiea, Arin's father, could be seen from where he was standing. A statue sat imposingly on the roaring beast. Ryota didn’t spot any kinds of reign, so he figured the King controlled the dragon with his magic. King Jullian wore a helmet and clothed in black armor. He had seen that type of armor before, however, this one looked much lighter and there were characters engraved on the plates. Magic runes for protection he suspected. 

The Nihon Emperor stood surrounded with his family's members. He already noticed though his own late Emperor Nobuo Heika wasn’t born yet, Konami-sama, the long deceased sister of his standing looking in awe at the beasts as the other King descended his dragon ride. The thing's head dropped low to hiss at the guards and servants standing near for show and orders. The horse panicked but quick to be calmed down with great effort. He could feel the tense presence of the less public protection force at the beasts. The man, currently carrying a bundle of blue which Ryota didn’t see at first, moved his mouth to command quietly at his dragon. The beast roared one last time then took off as its master landed on the ground with a great thud.

Ryota looked on as the rest of the King's convoy filled the courtyard. Some strode to bow in a appropriate manners to the Emperor and his family. He guessed they were the councilors and heads of their army. The King approached last. The crowd, except for the Emperor, bowed in respect at the foreign King while the King's men did the same to their host. King Jullian also greeted the Emperor with a bow albeit not as deep as the rest's bow as he was being careful to jostle the blue bundle. He moved to stand closer to the most important people in this crowd when he saw a tuff of brownish, almost copper color, hair trailing on the back of the King's shoulder. The blue bundle was a child nesting its head in the crook of the King whom now he realized was towering and striking. He wondered how it would feel like to spar with this man, or even better, fight with him. A man with such commanding presence must be no easy opponent. His knuckles and muscles tingled at such scenario. Damn if he didn’t miss having a proper fight with an equal. 

"Welcome to Nihon, King Jullian," the Emperor extended his welcoming in Republician, "I hope the trip was pleasant?"

"I thank you for extending the invitation to the royal family of Magiea. Our trip was eventful thanks to the aide from the Nihon Border Guards," the deep voice of the King didn’t surprise him at all. 

"Is this Princess Konami? You have grown into a beautiful lady since the last time we met."

"And smart too," the Princess replied petulantly as if the King had withdrawn that piece of information on purpose. Ryota smirked at how much that defiance trait had passed on to her future niece while the Queen a long with the servants looked at the young Princess in terror. They hurriedly tried to get the Princess understand that it was rude to interrupt the adults. Even the Emperor was about to apologize when King Jullian laughed lightly. 

"Yes, I deeply apologize, my lady. You will certainly grow to be more beautiful and smart," his stern eyes softened a bit at the sight of the flushing Princess," the future of Nihon is safe and well if you have such a strong minded heiress like Princess Konami here".

"The girl has no limits on her mouth. I do hope the future you promised is true," the Emperor gave a look to said girl who huffed at his comments.

"I assume this is your youngest Princess, Your Majesty?" Nihon's Queen asked expectantly.

"Yes," King Jullian said tenderly, reach up one hand to stroke the back of the bundle and pull down the hood revealing a mass of curly hair with strange color, "You must forgive us. She fell asleep during the last length of the trip. I intend to let her sleep for a bit more. My apology for the lack of proper introduction."

"Oh, it's not a problem at all. She must be greatly tired to be sleeping soundly through this commotion," the Queen's motherly tone oddly reminded him of … voice whenever she raised her concerns of him.

"We shouldn't let our esteemed guests wait anymore. Guards! Servants! Take care of the belongings and the horses," the Emperor barked his orders as the crowd around him were kicked to life again after such entrance and pleasantries between the two leaders.

Horses were led away to the stables, servants bustling to take trunks by trunks of things brought by the ground convoy. Ryota took one last look at the sky where the dragons had flown away before following the crowd inside. 

His current Empress's grandfather led the way as the other King listened intently at the introduction of the various remaining royal members and some important figures in Nihon and offered his greeting to each of them and in turn introduced his own men. 

He opted to walk a few feet behind the now less crowded party, enough in listening range but out of the way of the surrounding servants and guards. The unpleasant sensation of having another person walking right through him made him grimace in annoyance. So far he had realized that he could also walk through physical barriers such as doors or gates and anything he tried to grab or pick up either merged with his dull looking hand or went to floor. However, Arin had been adamant that this would work and his Princess had agreed. They didn’t have any other choices. His feet carried him whichever direction the group of people in front him went. This place had been his to protect for many years and the people it housed, his to serve. Every corner or passage he learnt like the back of his hands. 

He followed them as they arrived at the guest wing at last. There it was, the Ancient Tam Tree. At the present, it looked sick. The bark had faded into an unhealthy brown. It also spotted too many grayish areas. The leaves, if any, were a dull kind of green and falling at an alarming rate from the moment he landed here. And there was no flower. By the time he first came to the palace when he was young, the tree was revived and was flourishing ever since. So it surprised him deeply to see it in such state. It was the oldest Tam tree in the whole country. 

"It doesn't look well, does it? Emperor Shuichi?"

Ryota looked away from the tree to King Jullian observing the tree contemplatively.

"Ah, yes. We have been worried that it might have contracted something."

"Something? Is it not a disease?"

"No…we have had the healers and masters about tree took a look at it. Nothing that they know of could have done this," the Emperor answered solemnly.

"Tree-san is sad cause no one gives him candy," a childish voice chimed in. 

The adults shifted their attention to the little Nihon Princess. The Queen was, without a doubt, horrified again with her daughter's carefree remark and doubled this time due to the lack of proper language.

"This child," the Emperor surprisingly this time didn’t admonish his heiress, speaking rather fatherly," kept insisting that I bring all the candies from over the country and "feed" the tree until it's well again."

A light laugh broke the air as King Jullian's softened expression being directed at the little Princess. He crouched down to level their eyes. 

"Princess Konami is sure a sweet child. I have brought some delicacies from my kingdom, some of them are sweets," he once again brought up a hand to sooth his sleeping Princess, "Maybe when Everly wakes up, you and her can bring those and give them to the tree. To make it better?"

Princess Konami blushed at the King, but quickly reverting back to her outspoken trait and beamed at the man.

"Sure…," she went but with a tiny squeeze from her mother, went again, more lady-like this time," I would love to do so. Thank you for your generosity, King Jullian."

The King smiled and straightened up. They moved on the head towards the guest wing. Upon arriving, Emperor Shuichi wished a enjoyable stay at his palace to the King and then departed. Magiean general Sigier, whom he already knew, stayed in a room down the hall of the guest wing. Guards were dispersed to stand watching at each corner of this area. He watched as the general started to perform alerting spell and other spells for protection. It took Ryota off guard when he could feel the power of magic rumbling through him. He wished he could feel his sword in this form, but it seemed like he wouldn’t get tired or injured which was a good thing considering he had no idea how long he would be here. Arin explained to him that he wouldn’t miss the time in the future.

"It will be like a dream. A long dream." She told him so.

After walking back to the tree, he signed at the heartbreaking sight of it. He used to admire it whenever it blossomed into a cloud-on-Earth of soft yellow. It stood witness to every discussion, comforting or lectures from his Princess Satoko-sama who wasn’t been born yet. The tree had a calming effect according to her. It's been told that it was in critical condition, and the Nihon royal family nearly lost it, which he figured was around this time. However, it mysteriously recovered and lived till his time. Sitting down the ledge that separating the patch of earthy yard that housed the tree, he reasoned that the reviving of the tree must be related to the fact that the King of the most powerful kingdom of magic was here. What he couldn’t deduce were when and how. He needed to get a freshly bloomed Tam flower, a complete one without any missing petals. That damn minx had better not play tricks with them. Leon hadn’t woken up yet after the fight with the crazy twins from their last destination. 

"A flower from the past, blooming from the death. Tch."

He thought to himself, still in distrust of such ridiculous notion, however Princess Satoko had had a dream. A dream even more supported after Arin revealed that she could indeed perform teleporting people, though just their immaterial self. They had tested out at first. It was risky, bit they didn’t have other choice. So he volunteered to be the person to retrieve the flower in the past. With how specifically the minx described them where and when to find it, he growled at how she must have had it thought out beforehand.   
With two arms crossed across his chest, he closed his eyes, letting himself focus at the problem at hand and dig deeper within to find a solution. The sky well above the tree brought wind into the little yard space. The dying branches trembled at it. There had been no fragrance or smell of life for a while.

Just dirt and a promise of death.


	2. Father and Daughter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everly woke up to a strange country. Some father and daughter's interaction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to give the best authentic Japanese terms for clothing articles. While the setting is in historical Japan, but i took some liberation to make some changes in order to fit the story. Please let me know if i got something wrong. Thank you for reading!!!

She woke up to a strange room that replaced the rhythmic flying sensation of Drayce. The very thin mattress she was lying on felt oddly comfy and the blanket drawn up to cover her was warm. She propped herself up on and wiped the hair that had fallen on her face. 

"Papa?" Her voice sounded small to the huge room. She spotted her blue coat folded on a strangely low table but not her father. So she pushed her small body up and padded over to the slightly ajar screen to her right. She could see some semblance of a garden though her young soul hadn’t seen before a Nihon sand garden. The floor wasn’t made of stone like back at home but of wood. It felt cool under her feet as she made her way to the gap. 

"Birdy!" She exclaimed as she saw a white birdy standing in the small pond. Her hands came up to pry the gap open only to find out how slick the sliding doors were. Losing balance, Everly felt face first into the soft sand, missing the nearby big rocks by inches. Thanks for the sand and the fact that the raised platform she fell from wasn’t too high off the ground, she only got cut on her forehead.

"Ahh" 

"Ouchh," at the sound of wings fluttering, the ginger haired girl panicked," no, wait. Don’t go. Birdy, don’t fly away."

But it had been too late. The flock of 3 stocks scattered to the sky in fright.

"Owww. Birdy come back," little Princess begged earnestly

For a baby, she didn’t cry when the sting of the graze upon her forehead she obtained from the fall started to show, or when the sand got into her mouth. She was sadder at the fact that she just scared away her potential new friends. So she contented to lie where she fell, back to the sky and face to the sand  
Heavy footsteps approached her. And then the sound of doors opening wider. A pair of strong and much bigger arms picked her up and she immediately curled her tiny ones around her father's neck.

"I woke up, but you were not here, papa," Everly recounted sadly, "I wanted to play with birdy but they ran away."

"I believe they would have wanted to play with you. They just had some business to attend to, so they needed to go away first," King Jullian brushed the sand of his daughter's clothes and hair. He then brought the Princess to sit in his lap. While his daughter was asleep, he managed to take a bath and changed into a Nihon grab. Despite its layers, the materials proved to provide with enough comfortableness against the current summer air in Nihon. 

"Is this place near a beach, papa? There's sand. Can we go to the beach?" Everly looked up, questions and hopeful requests present in her blue-gray big baby eyes. 

"You've got a cut on your forehead, Everly," Jullian brushed the curly strains away to inspect the wound, "Does it hurt?"

"Come, let's take care of it," saying as he picked the girl up and positioned her neatly across his upper waist. The cut didn’t look serious though sand had caked on it while his little girl planted her face on them. He could see a bit of dried blood, but it was no cause to worry.

"Can we go to the beach later, please, papa?" Everly didn’t cease her attempt to go to the beach. Her face crunched up as her father's hand gently touched the wound. 

"This region of Nihon doesn’t have a beach, sweetie. We are here to pay a visit upon invitation of the emperor."

"Nihon? It doesn’t have a beach?"

"I believe it does. But not here."

Her face brightened up at that. Another launch of begging bubbled up. "Then can we go to a place that has a beach?" 

"Stay still. Eyes forward," the King had procured a medical kit in one of the large wardrobes in the room after setting Everly down to sit on the futon. The baby squirmed in her seat as the King treated her wound. Dabbing the wet cloth he retrieved from the bathroom on the cut, he continued to clean it before taking scoop of healing oilment and applied it.   
"It stings, papa," her face twisted into a discomfort scowl when the oilment started to kick in.

"That door is weird. I thought it was a gap on the wall," she tried to gently touch the freshly treated wound.

"They are sliding doors. It's common in Nihon to use them," he smoothed the wild hair on his daughter's head, pressing a kiss to the silk-like copper strains, " now you know what they are, then be careful next time, alright."

Everly nodded.

"I will get someone to fill you a warm tub. You need to change into the Nihon clothes before we head to meet with the emperor and his family for dinner," he made to take out the kimono that he had chosen for Everly before she woke up. 

The servant, upon his request for his own bath, had brought a plentiful of choices of kimono for him as he was informed that the dinner would not be formal. The kimonos were made of silk and of a variety of patterns and colors. He opted for a light gray one with no patterns, and a sky-blue one with images of a flock of white stocks on it. He would have to introduce zori to Everly too.

"You will be wearing this for tonight."

"What is it, papa? It has birdy on it!" the little girl excitedly admired the image," but this birdy looks thinner than the one out there, papa."

"This birdy is waiting for you to feed it by eating dinner, so don't not leave food out," the King turned away to go and call for the servants, missing his daughter's pouty face at that.

"Really…," she inched her face closer to the eyes of stocks as if demanding their answer.

Two maids entered the room, bringing fresh bath necessities in hands, trailing behind were another servant and two of the guards. All, except for the Magiean guards, bowed their head and didn’t look up at her father's eyes while hurriedly headed towards the bathroom and started preparing. Her father followed them into the room.

"Everly, come in here, sweetie," his voice summoned her.

So she found herself entering the already steamy room. Inside, at the center sat a huge round tub. The kind she had never seen before. It wasn’t made of stone and granite like back home, but with slides of wood. The maids bustled around to finish things up. They kept their heads down the whole time. It puzzled her to no ends. The maids at home were respectful, but they also talked. She liked it when they talked to her, asking about her day and other exciting things she had done. They also smiled. Here, the air was more solemn. 

Her father picked her up to sit on his lap, her facing outwards, so he could start untie the braids her mother had put there to keep her hair in place. That hadn’t been a success. Everly continued to observe the working people as her father's hand tugged her hair free. One of the maids kept subtly glanced at her direction. No, two of the maids took any chance to look towards where she sat. Suddenly, she felt unease at the strangers' carefully masked attention.

"Papa, would you help me taking the bath?" She turned to his face, caught his big hand in hers to play with them in a nervous manner that her father recognized.

"Of course, Tochter," he directed another kiss on top of her head before ordering the servants and maids to leave upon finishing. The servants and maids were perplexed and insisted that they would help with bathing the honored Princess. However, he would have none of it. He had been alright with them helping him with the bathing for he understood their even more acute sense of duty towards their masters and their master's important guests. He had known of the back rubbing aspect of Nihon culture and he tried to respect it. Yet, the shy glances from the younger maids didn’t escape his attention no matter how subtle they thought they were. Even now, they had also made Everly tense with their occasional stealing peeks. He had already decided that he would bath her by himself before she could ask him so.

He thanked them in Republician as they exited with the guards. Their conversation had been in Magiean, so the others wouldn’t catch what they were saying. However, he would ask Everly to conserve in Republician with others from now on during their stay here. 

The bath was fun because there were petals put in the water. Her father stopped her when she tried to put one in her mouth. She even made him give her bubble hair with shampoo. He indulgingly styled the bubble into two horns like the ones on Dracye's head, and smiled a full one at her giggling self. Afterwards, she was dried and left wrapping in a cotton towel on one of the cushions, waiting for one of the maids to come in and help her into the kimono. 

"Wait here. I would do it myself, but putting on a kimono requires steps that I don't know," drying her hair and face.

"Hmn," she hummed contently, having scrubbed free of dirt and sweat. She sniffed her hands and hair. The soap and shampoo smelled like jasmine. So now, she envisioned herself as jasmine flowers. Her mother had grown jasmine by the window of Dalla's room and the study room in the West wing. 

A maid, an elderly looking woman with stern face, walked in along with her father. He stood by, arms crossed, as the lady helped her through the complicating process of putting on the kimono while also verbally describing those steps. At her father's request probably. It had too many layers to her liking, and the sash that wound around her belly hugged her a bit too tight. She was also made to wear a pair of white socks. The shoes the lady showed her were strange too. They only had two black strings and a straw-made sole without any coverage. 

"Would young Princess like the pink or the orange one for her hair?" Two pieces of what she assumed were hair decorations were presented to her.

They were flowers put together into a bundle, with strings of flowers attached to it that would dangle if put on her hair. She could recognize only the cherry blossom flower one. So she pointed at the pink one without saying anything.

"You should answer her properly, Everly. It's not polite," King Jullian calmly told her in their mother tongue. 

Everly had been always reluctant to speak Republician, which had troubled him and Dorothea to no end. His decision to bring Everly in this trip was partly for this reason. And it would help her get more sociable and make new friends. With his eldest now reaching his 26th spring and his second 19th, Everly was his youngest at only 5 years old. Her status as a Princess didn’t help her gain many friends her age as other parents were either too fearful or too calculating with determining in making connections with the royal family.   
"I…would like the pink one, please," her voice came out small and uncertain. She dared a look at the lady's face and saw no expression as she continued with her hair. But her father's face wasn’t as stern as before, so her spirit was lifted right away. 

She offered an accented Thank You to the maid after she's done. Her hair had been pulled into a bun, which was impressive due to how curly and wild her hair could be. The hair pieces swung back and forth as she struggled to walk in the kimono. 

"This is hard to move, papa," she said irritably.

"You could loose the outer layers when we finish with dinner. So you could move better in it."

"Is dinner gonna be long?" Bending down to put on the zori, she huffed indignantly when she couldn’t.

"I don’t think. There would be some talking, and i need you to be respectable. Try the food," Jullian helped her get the sandals on, "There is Princess Konami and maybe others more. You can play with them later."

"But, you have to speak Republician here, Everly. Especially to the emperor and queen. Do you understand, Tochter," he carefully paid out the rules for her when they finally reached the door.

Looking up at her father, she hesitantly nodded.

"Yes, I understand, papa," she replied in Republician. And when her father reached down to hold her hand, voice gently told her in encouragement.

"I know you will try to do your best, Everly. I'm proud of you."

She felt bursts of happiness.


	3. Preparation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Noisy maids and new information

The palace was lit with various candles placed around every corner and in the hanging glass boxes on the walls. He spent his time by inspecting the place, determining of how much the architecture had changed. There were places that he had never seen before which he assumed had been rebuilt by the time he arrived here in the future. He stayed out of the servants' way, but following then nonetheless because while he tolerated the troubling feeling of passing through walls, he would avoid it if he could. 

He's currently in one of the smaller dinning rooms where the servants and maids were placing dish after dish on separate chabudai. The highest one was obviously preserved for the emperor. It's located upon a raised dais. The room stayed the same as it seemed with sliding doors on the right side that opened up to a garden. There were guards standing watch, and if he could, he would live very much to fight them. Being in this state of non-existing was getting on his nerves as he was also nowhere near to discovering how to take the flower. Ryota didn’t need a sword to fight fiercely. Years of training and experience equipped him better than any weapon could. He wondered if the guards now were more skilled than the ones in the future. He thought of how incompetent some of the guards or even ninjas that he knew and decided that it was probably the case. 

On the left row of the emperor's seat, the servants were putting on more cutlery. He walked closer to two to find out that spoons and forks were added. While Arin had no problem using the chopsticks, her family might not. 

"It's odd that they can’t use the chopsticks, right Maiko?" One of the maids whispered to the other as they worked closely to finish their task. 

"I heard that hey don’t use chopsticks in their country," Maiko breathed out as she set another spoon and fork on the third chabudai.

"Gossiping maids," Ryota though unpleasantly, not unaware of such affairs inside the palace. He detested it. Lies that circulating too far, rumors that caused quarrel. It didn’t stop at spilling false claims. Many times he had to act as the evil ninja that they thought of him to protect sensitive information from slipping out into the outside world.

"Besides, from the look of their king, i think they would just break them in half," the namelesss maid added knowingly, " You saw how big and strong his hands were."

"Shh, how do you even know his hands are strong?"

"How can they not be, Maiko-chan. And his face. I have never seen a blue eyed man before, Maiko-chan," she signed dreamily," I thought i was looking at the sky."  
Maiko almost dropped the fork she was holding, whispered anxiously at her friend. 

"You looked at him???" She sneaked behind to see if anyone else had caught that. "We are not supposed to look at the royalties. That's the rule. Now give me that."

"Don’t worry. I heard he's kind man. And it's not a problem in Magiea apparently," handing the last of the cutlery to Maiko.

"But this is not Magiea. You could lose your job, or worse, your life by disrespecting the upper class like that."

They both stood up and dutifully retreated from the room. His feet carried him behind them though he couldn’t reason why. He was curious about Arin's father. And the little child, who was dubbed "the youngest princess". He knew Arin was the man's third child, after another older sister. If he had known how old her sister had been, he would have guessed which one was this. Maybe the nosy maids could help him with that. Even from hours ago, he had decided that if he was going to successfully bring the flower back, magic had to be involved. Arin was perhaps the one with the most powerful being in his time even if she wouldn’t yet allow herself to reach the fullest of her potential. Her family being here might hold the solution.

So he followed them out into the hallway, and as they lead, he listened.

"You are so reckless, Hairi-chan. Don’t let anyone else know about this," Maiko warned her friend as they received, along with other maids, zens of chawan (rice bowls) accompanied with the main course items served in either a sara or a hachi. People were once again walking through him as everyone rushed to prepare the dinner. The smell of high quality food danced in the air.

"Oh, don’t be a killjoy, Maiko-chan. You think he's handsome too," Hairi lowered her voice as they were in close proximity to other maids, "I saw you blush."

"I did not! Just stop talking," her friend turned to Maiko, wearing a scandalized expression. Ryota wished he could cut something now with how frustrating this was becoming.

"I helped preparing his bath this afternoon, with Rumi-chan," she let out in a rush.

"What? You are not even in that unit," they both kept their head down and their conversation quiet. However, his trained ears picked up everything. These two maids were asking for troubles. He knew of the not-looking rule, but by his time, it had been loosened up by miles. Yet, he didn’t agree with the practice of discussing freely about their honored guests like this.

"I gave Rin-chan a hairpiece that I don’t use anymore. Free gift and doesn’t have to do more work than the rest. No one would pass that up."

"Did Kazue-san know about this?" Maiko questioned incredulously.

"She suspected at the sudden change. But she couldn’t do anything about it. I got lucky cause we were called in right away. She didn’t get the chance to question me."

They reached the dinning room again, waiting for their turn to get in and set the food up. The door was open so the servants could do their job effectively. It would be closed later for more privacy among hosts and guests.

"He's so tall," setting her tray down on one of the chabudai, "Kazue-san sadly helped him out of the armor. We only prepared other essentials. But..."

They finished their first round of zens, and started making their way back to kitchen. Others worked in silent. He felt ridiculous to follow these two like a dog, feeding on bits of information. Besides, he's starting to get uncomfortable on the man's behalf. Arin would be furious if she heard people talking about her father in this fashion.

"Don’t tell me you peeped," her more rational friend was horrified. 

"No, well, more like accidental witnessing," Hairi exclaimed slyly.

Maiko sucked in a breath. Girls could be dramatic than the situation required. 

"Don’t ever speak of this ever again. You're gonna get us all killed," her eyes darted around, making sure no one was within hearing range, " Do you think he noticed? He must have! He's a warrior. Oh no."

"Calm yourself. Nothing has happened yet, just don’t freak out and tell others about this. You hear me?"

"Of course! Why would you tell me in the first place anyway," the poor girl nervously received another zen and once again made for the dinning room, friend in tow. 

"He also seems like a good father. Took care of her real good. Didn’t even let us help bathing the girl."

"The princess? Did you get a good look at her hair? Such a strange color," Maiko commented curiously.

"It has the color like our copper bowl we use to wash our face, but redder and more lively."

"I wish i could see it more closely. So pretty hair."

"I think it's weird. But i guess being that gorgeous man's daughter blessed her with beauty too," Hairi shrugged huffily.

Once again, they found themselves setting up zens in the room. He decided to stay here after this. No more wasting time on fruitless pursuit like this one.

"Do you know that he has another two children?" 

Ryota, who settled to standing beside one of the guards, perked up at this as well as the Hairi girl. 

"Two more?" Surprise colored her tone.

"You didn't know. He has 3 children so far. The youngest being the princess that came along on this visit. The oldest is a son and the second is another girl. "Maiko imparted the knowledge.

Hairi stared at her. Ryota's mind started to run in miles too. If what she said was true, then that little princess was Arin after all! She had told him and the rest of their group about her family and the murder. He could never misremember what she had shared with them. 

"My family had 7 people. My parents, my elder brother, elder sister, me and the twins," her eyes were sad whenever she spoke of her family, "People used to wonder why our family was too big. Normally Magiean people have maximum 3 children. Cause, you know, we live a very long life."

This could be the key to his problem. Now that he knew the young Arin was here, there might be a way to bring the flower back to the future. He didn’t know how much time had passed while he's stuck in the past. His hope was that he could return quick enough to save Leon. He gritted his teeth reliving the rage that went through him when Leon got pierced by that black blade. He had to move faster.

"Why didn’t you tell me about this before?" Hairi demanded at her friend.

"I though you knew. Considering how fascinated you are with him."

One of guards suddenly announced the arrival of some official or Lord. He didn't care, but the maids had stopped talking at once, so he thanked his luck. One by one, the elite class of Nihon entered the room. Some solemnly took their place on the right side of the room while the left was reserved for the guests. Some announced their appearance from before they got to the doors. Ryota frowned, annoyance visible at the loud and rude upper class men. He had had some of those in his time too. Some he had punched in the face and taught them a lesson not to look down at others. It seemed like douchebags were the only constant in the changing time. He didn’t care to listen to their conversations. These types of shallow talks weren’t alien to him. The amount of apple-polishing would boil his blood far easier than any monsters. He endured far enough of those during the time he stayed in and trained with the royal guards. 

The maids had already left the room. The only servants left in the room went around to serve sake and to take other orders from the growing list of officials and Lords. The dinner had taken shape and skin. Now, they waited for the main guests to arrive, and the dinner would begin.


	4. Familiar faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dinner began. Unexpected reunion.

The noise was stopped once the announcement that King Jullian's party and the Nihon Emperor were approaching. The rest of the royal family wasn’t here yet however. Everyone stopped their doing, servants and masters alike, and proceeded to kneel in order to lower their heads in a respectful bow. He straightened up where he was leaning against the wall as the guards in the room also turned to pay respect with their proper greeting. He could see that the foreign King had changed into a kimono attire. Plain yet fitting for an august man such as him. He was carrying Arin in one arm. She, too, no longer adorned their kingdom's clothes. It's strange to associate the woman that he knew with this little girl who was looking anxiously at her surrounding. Walking beside King Jullian was the Emperor, but talking to him was a Nihon official of importance by the way his attire indicated, so the little girl took turns from staring at the other man's face to glancing around at the servants and guards. The Arin he knew would absorb the new environment like sponge to water in an instance. And she was never afraid or shy. Unlike her child self apparently. Suddenly, he was hit with a sense of longing and hope of other tiny babies with black eyes and copper hair. He shook himself back to reality. There was a long path for them to walk. This wasn’t the moment for that.

"Thank you for your kind words, Lord Daichi," the King responded politely. 

"It's my honor, Your Majesty," the man quickly signaled his man to bring forward a red box, "Please, accept our province's delicacy as gifts to you and your family."

"Oh, you didn’t have to, Lord Daichi," he looked at the presenting gifts, declining would be offensive, so he accepted gracefully, "However, your kindness would be received wholeheartedly. I thank you."

"I hope the Princess will enjoy it also," the man smiled at Arin which made her wrapped her arms around her father's neck for courage before she muttered a Thank You.

"If there's nothing else, Lord Daichi, we should head to our seats first and settle. As it seemed, all the officials and Lords have already arrived," Emperor Shuichi noted.

"Ah, yes, of course, Your Majesty. Servants. Guide our precious guests to their chabudai right away," the Official curtly gave orders voluntarily in behalf of his ruler, and the servants moved like on strings.

The ninja didn’t miss the flickering annoyance at Lord Daichi's tone from King Jullian. The man put his daughter on the ground, encouraging the girl to lead the way. He also observed thoughtfully as Arin took attentive small steps after the maid (who, thankfully, wasn’t one of the two maids) first, looking at the food displaying on the table as she walked by. She passed him in little more soulful strides, busily enjoying the sights while walking faster as she realized the attention on her from all the people in the room. Her hair glinted in the candle light. He hadn’t known her original hair color was that of copper. A ginger head as he had heard during their journey. She first met him in a dirty blonde, before long, their little group became used to her dying her hair once in a while. But it was never ginger color. The kimono she was wearing complimented her hair which in turn accentuated her blue eyes. He would hate to admit, but Arin looked adorable tonight. Just as he did so, he shuddered at the thought of her finding out about that. He would never hear the end of it. 

He saw the Emperor also made way to his chabudai at the top. King Jullian went after his daughter, passing him in a throng of his own guards. He moved away as not to have one of them stepping in his body-less state. He noticed that the King was indeed taller than him, as he suspected. He would love to have such a sparing partner like him.   
As the honored guests were present, the only empty chabudai belonged to the Queen and Princess Konami. The guards temporarily closed the doors. The Emperor made to commence the occasion.

"So it seems that we will have to delay our dinner until the Queen arrives. However, I have had the kitchen prepared one of our best teas, Saraja Tea," the Emperor held up one ceramic cup and gestured the rest to reach for their own. The servants had poured on cue hot water in cups that held the tea leaves. 

"Please, let us enjoy this gift from nature, to ready our palette before we enjoy the meticulously prepared dinner by our cooks," saying as he sipped on the tea. 

Just at that, the guards announced the Queen and Princess had arrived. 

"Ah, my dearest Queen! My daughter! What had taken you so long," his voice boomed through the space. 

The Queen bowed at the waiting room. Princess Konami followed her lead. Mother and daughter were both wrapped in finely hand-stitched kimono. The two colors of red and pink complimented the Queen's elegance and the Princess's playfulness. 

"You must forgive me, Shuichi Heika. We took long time to make you proud with our thoughtful appearance."

"Ha, what a considerate Queen. Come, come. Take your place," the Emperor responded in good spirit. Earning agreement from among the Officials and Lords.

"Queen Katsumi's effort certainly was worth it as she definitely looks stunning tonight," King Jullian offered with a genuine smile, "as well as Princess Konami."

"My humble gratitude to you, King Jullian."

"May I speak freely, Shuichi Hekai?" one of the less cunning looking Lords spoke up.

"Yes, Lord Tomodaichi," granted the Emperor.

"Tonight the moon is to rise and shine brightly. However, as Queen Katsumi and Princess Konami, and" he gestured to Arin, who now, at the sudden focus, shrunk back into her father's lap, "Princess Everly here with us, I’m afraid the moon is going to be ashamed."

That roused a good laugh from the men while the Queen hid her smile coyly behind her sleeves. Princess Konami remained undisturbed by her surrounding. Her focus never strayed from Arin, or Everly (though it had been revealed that this was her name sake among Magiean people, the sound still didn’t click with him) as she's known here, who in turn only peaked occasionally to survey the room. He saw the Nihon Princess tried to catch the younger one with a tiny hand wave. 

"Hi," she mouthed silently, attempting a smile.

Fortunately, Arin didn’t miss or ignore it. It seemed that the young Arin was interested as her eyes brightened up a bit, still nervous. She also untangled her hand from fidgeting her father's clothes to manage a weak wave back. The smile on Princess Konami's childish face returned full force. He could detect some of her features had been passed down to her niece Princess Satoko as Ryota experienced deja vu from that sight.

Arin, surprised at this, once again turned around to wrap her arms around King Jullian's waist and hid her face bashfully.

"Tch. Who would have known how shy of a kid you were," Ryota smirked. This was becoming more and more exciting of a story to tell every moment passing by. 

King Jullian smiled on behalf of his child at a now puzzled Princess Konami. His hand stroking Arin's back as he bent down to whisper something to her. 

"That's Princess Konami. She wants to play with you. Don’t you want to play with a friend, Everly."

"Hmnn."

"Come now. We are to start eating. You get your own table. The Emperor has prepared many delicious dishes for us. We have to be polite, alright," gently pulling his daughter off his lap and set her onto the chabudai next to him.

"There are other children too. Friends. But you have to finish your meal first. Understand, Tochter?"

"Yes, papa," Arin nodded while Ryota was still processing how Arin had had to be persuaded to eat in the past while she's an eating machine in the future.

"Alright. Let's try many new dishes," the father pointed at the various plates, his gaze at his daughter's quick scan of the food was one of bemusement," you can tell mama about them when we get back. Surely, she would love to hear that, right?"

"Yes! Mama told me to try new things. And I could tell Dallie and Alex too, "the young daughter's excitement was ignited, "they would be sad for missing this!"

Little hands picked up the spoon and dipped into her first dish. Of course the order of eating was wrong. But seeing that an exception must have been made for the young Princess of Magiea, no one commented. The first dish went smoothly from where he saw it. He saw that though King Jullian left Arin to independently eat her food, he would glance over from time to time to check on her while simultaneously holding conversation with either the Emperor or one of the others. Ryota was struck with how much patience this man had for not snapping at the constant interruption. Patience was also a virtue in the craftsmanship of being a ninja and warrior. However, he would choose sitting motionless for hours on end to this as at least he could chop something in pieces at the end. He could see that Arin had inherited her father's the diplomatic blood. 

The said girl, albeit much younger and inexperienced, was slowing down at the food. As it appeared, she had found the dish that she disliked as she spared the sashimi completely after one bite which resulted in a spitting. 

"It's ok if you don’t eat the sashimi. Not everyone can eat it," apologetically giving his child a sip of tea to cleanse her mouth of the stale taste of raw fish.

"I like it better when it's cooked, papa," the girl pouted at the dish right when she felt eyes on her. Looking up, she caught Princess Konami's amused expression. Then the older of the two used one finger to push a piece of sashimi, head shaking, her face crunched up in disgust too. Seeing that there'a another person who agreed with her about the awfulness of raw fish, Arin tentatively smiled at her which in turn made the smile a wider one. He observed as their exchanged went unnoticed by others save maybe King Jullian and him. He doubted that a member of the Nihon royal family would dislike sashimi, however, that got Princess Konami a smile from Arin, so it wasn’t a failure. 

Right then, a guard from outside stepped into the room which prompted demanding stares from the people in it. 

"Shuichi Hekai, Lord Tadashi of Ishikawa has arrived and requested to enter," he dutifully informed.

Ryota immediately turned to the door, eyes widen at the name. Lord Tadashi of Ishikiwa, the 159th ruler of the province of Ishikawa, whose son later in became the 160th ruler. He had heard many times the story of the mended sword Ihin, his family heirloom. The story of the battle of Ten Mountains, how it was broken by the viciousness of the monsters and Onis, his great-grandfather had used the remaining shard of the sword and fought off the great devils. Afterwards, it was fixed by a mysterious traveller who somehow convinced him to let him do so. His great-grandfather, Lord Tadashi of Ishikiwa, who stepped inside the room, traIling behind was a boy. Ryota stared in disbelief as they bowed in respect, back straight and posture bespoke years of discipline from the older man and the youthful blooming of the boy who Ryota guessed to be around 10 years old, his to-be grandfather Yoshiaki.


End file.
